Kokomo native ties Irish record with round of 71, posts fourth-best 54-hole score in team history

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Notre Dame freshman Mary Klein--a native of nearby Kokomo--finished tied for fifth while leading the Irish women's golf team to a sixth-place finish Sunday at the 15-team Indiana Invitational, held at the par-74, 6,134-yard IU Golf Course.

Klein opened play Saturday by earning a share of the lead with a three-under 71 and added an 80 in the afternoon to forge a tie for second. She shot 79 in Sunday's final round for a 230 total, which tied with Ohio State's Natalie Mosher for fifth in the 83-golfer field, nine shots behind medalist Jennifer Seger of host IU (71-80-70).

Klein's 230 score over 54 holes ranks fifth-best in the 10 years of Irish women's golf, besting the 232 posted by her sister Crissy at the 1991-92 OSU Invitational. Klein's first-round 71 equals the best round in Irish women's golf history, with senior co-captain Katie King firing a one-under 71 at last fall's Kentucky Invitational.

Notre Dame entered the final round tied with Wisconsin for fourth place at 636 (314-322) but Minnesota (315-324-307) vaulted past the Irish and Badgers into fourth while Wisconsin edged Notre Dame by a stroke in the final round, 316-317.

King added a final-round 79 to her Saturday scores of 78 and 83 to finish tied for 23rd at 240. Sophomore Andrea Klee (84-81-80) counted in all three rounds while senior co-captain Tracy Melby bounced back from opening rounds of 81 and 89 to card a 79 on Sunday. Sophomore Beth Cooper followed up a solid first two rounds (84-78) with a disappointing 94 over the final 18 holes.

The Irish have two remaining tournaments: April 18-19 at the University of Illinois and April 25-26 at Ohio State.

NOTES: Notre Dame entered the IU Invitational ranked 11th in the Midwest district ... a selection committee will pick four teams and one individual or three teams and six individuals to represent the district at the NCAA East Regional, to be held May 7-9 at Duke Golf Club in Durham, N.C. ... King (79.95) and Klee (80.53) remain on pace for the first and third-rd-best season stroke averages in Irish women's golf history (King averaged 80.17 as a junior) ... other season stroke averages: Melby (81.32, 5th in Irish history), Klein (81.90, 9th in Irish history) and Cooper (83.32) ...

King is averaging 77.00 strokes over seven rounds this spring, followed by Klein (78.43), Klee (79.43), Melby (82.14) and Cooper (84.00) ... King dropped her Irish-record career stroke average to 81.63 while Melby's rose to 82.03 (second-best in Irish history) ... King and Melby now are tied atop the Irish record book with 76 career rounds counted to the team score (out of 88) ... Klee remains the only Irish golfer to have counted during all 19 rounds of 1997-98 ... five golfers have led the Irish women at tournaments during 1997-98: King (campus championship, Kentucky Invitational, Midwest Classic, NIU Snowbird Invitational), Klee (MSU Invitational), Melby (MSU Invitational), Michigan Invitational), Becca Schloss (ND Invitational in Naples, Fla.) and Klein (IU Invitational) ...

Notre Dame's team stroke average improved to 320.11 (80.03 per counted score), well below the team record of 326.71 set last season ... the 953 total at IU is the third-best 54-hole score ever by an Irish women's team, trailing last fall's Kentucky Invitational (943) and the 1991-92 MSU Invitational ... King has shot 80 or lower in 11 of 19 rounds this season, including seven of the last eight.